


What Time Changes

by chansaegyo



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Artist Kim Seungmin, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, It's supposed to have a happy ending don't worry, M/M, Model Hwang Hyunjin, Whatever is wrong with Hyunjin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:55:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21721816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chansaegyo/pseuds/chansaegyo
Summary: Where Kim Seungmin needs a model and Hwang Hyunjin looks good enough to pose for him.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin & Kim Seungmin, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello everyone!! its my first time writing a whole story in english - which is not my first language - so i'll apologize right away for the mistakes, typos and all. i hope you'll enjoy this story because i'm super excited to write it hehe.  
> you must be annoyed to read this everywhere but please don't forget to show your support in any way if you like my story!  
> thank you!

As a third year art student, Seungmin's main problem was to find a model in order to complete the last part of his study path. 

It had been announced during summer break ; part of the process of validating their final year was to compose a series of artworks through the year, based on a simple subject : 

' _What time changes_ '.

Seungmin did think about the sentence a lot, and he sure had found a lot of ideas. The simple word 'time' brought to his mind tons of pictures, words, colors, movements and even memories, And he was far from lacking inspiration. What he was lacking of was a model he could use to give life to the numerous concepts running in his head, someone's visuals he could use to express and shape the ideas flowing in his brain. 

Seungmin would have been totally fine expressing his concept of 'What time changes' through landscapes drawings or watercolor still life, with his own style and his own way of proceeding. But his teacher had been very clear in the e-mail he had sent ; students had to find a human model, and use only one color per canvas. They were free to use any technique ; paint, watercolor, pencils, stencils, anything they were comfortable with as long as they respected the only two conditions - and the imposed subject. 

To Seungmin's greatest despair, rules couldn't be violated, nor could exceptions could have been made - at least, if he wanted to get his degree. Although he was one of the most successful students of the school, with spotless grades, many attendances at school's projects, great manners and a flawless behavior, Seungmin remained one of the most loneliest students as well. It wasn't like he was a weird boy with strange hobbies and uncommon looks, or like he had gotten the entirety of the school against him because of some rumors. simply, after graduating from high school, Seungmin's friends didn't follow the same path. They were not into arts as much as he was, and Seungmin couldn't just result to give up on his dream in order to stay with his friends. So their small group of friends parted ways once they started college, breaking the early high school promise every teenager would make at their young age ; 'Let's stick together forever'.

So yes, as a third year art student Seungmin's main problem was to find a model in order to complete the last part of his study path.

And dear, how hazardous was it about to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is still pretty short i'm sorry;___; i'll do my best to write longer chapters in the future !!  
> enjoy <3

It wasn't so bad, having to go to school for the first time after summer break. at least, that's what Kim Seungmin believed. Being about to start his third and last year of college, he saw it as the final stretch toward his dream of becoming a world-wide known artist, the last stage before accessing to the life he longed for. And he couldn't be more excited about finally reaching his greatest wish. 

But of course, the utopia endlessly running in Seungmin's mind where he would meet thousands of celebrities and attend night cocktails on huge yachts wasn't so likely to happen. After getting his degree, he could travel and exhibit and sell his work all around the world, just as he had planned it years ago. But if he was being true to himself, Seungmin knew deep down inside his heart that his dream of reaching the world's front stage was meant to be a dream, and only a dream. Still, it didn't bother him that much. besides wanting to be acknowledged for his talent, Seungmin desired more than anything to live a calm and peaceful life of painting, maybe in a house on a hill close to the beach, or lost in the mountains by the riverside. 

What really annoyed him, on the contrary, was having to see, for one more year, those loud and joyful groups of student that kept straying in the school's corridors and around the blue tagged lockers in the hall. Despite the fact he used to love human contact and interaction, Seungmin had become a withdrawn boy without even noticing it. Unable to make friends at the beginning of his first college year, he had spent the first year of his young adult life studying alone, eating alone, living alone, hoping everyday to find friends he could spend some of his days and nights with. 

But the more the days passed, the less he tried to open himself to people. On the outside, Seungmin seemed like a total normal student. Brown hair and eyes, a classic yet neat style, and an assured gait that made him appear as the confident and collected boy he was.  
On the inside, Seungmin wasn't so chaotic either. He rarely felt lonely, tho sometimes he really wished to have someone he could talk to, and he actually kind of enjoyed being his own company, avoiding the fake unnecessary smiles and embarrassing blanks in conversations he would have had to face if he had people to hang out with. 

It simply seemed like Seungmin's pure and calm personality didn't appeal much to anyone. And even though he found it hard in the beginning, to live on his own when groups of unbreakable-like friendships surrounded him everywhere he went, it wasn't so hard to live now that had gotten used to it. Seungmin got used to the fact he wouldn't make any precious friendship during his college years, and he was doing pretty well. 

Until he was given this final year project.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm doing my best to post as often as possible but i only have 4 chapters in advance i'm sorry:(  
> i hope you'll enjoy this one, next chapter things will start to move a little!! (also excuse my typos if you notice some)

Stepping in his fine arts class for the first time in three months, Seungmin felt his heart warming up at the scent of the familiar wooden chairs and desks. Being the first one to enter the classroom because of his habit of always being awfully on time, he picked his usual place ; fourth row, left end, next to the wall. From there, he just had to lean against the wall to see the entirety of the class, allowing him then to detail each one of his classmates.  
Though Seungmin was known as one of the most brilliant student of his school, he too had times where classes would bother him and where he just wanted to skip the entire day. But of course he didn't, so instead he spent the hour drawing his classmates, focusing on what made their faces special to him. He kept these sketches in a small black notebook, closed by a yellow thread he knotted around the leather cover. He never showed his doodles to anyone, not even his fine art teacher. He didn't like the fact that people would judge his work, whether their judgement would be positive or not, and to his opinion these sketches weren't even that good anyway. He liked being in his own world, surrounded by his drawings and pencils with no one to disturb him. 

So obviously, when his teacher entered the classroom as it was slowly being filled with thin waves of mumbling students, Seungmin's peaceful mind got disrupted. He knew, just from seeing his teacher's glittering eyes and mischievous grin, that his last year wasn't going to be as tranquil as the previous ones. As people were setting their stuff around him, Seungmin remembered the mail he had received a month before. 

The final year project.

He had thought about it a lot. He had thought of how he wanted to represent the given subject, what method he would use, what color he would pick. And he had thought of how he would pressure his teacher so he would make an exception for him, letting him use an animal or a plant instead of a human. He thought of how he would supply him at the end of the class, harass him with mails, accept penalties just to avoid working with a being of his species. He had an entire alphabet of plans in his head, which all turned to dust once his teacher opened his mouth. 

\- Good morning everyone, he started off, not even trying to hide his excitement. As you all should know it by now third year students must build a final year project composed of four canvas and base on a common subject. This year's subject, as i specified it in the e-mail i sent this summer, will be "What time changes". 

Murmures could already be heard in the room, quickly shushed by the man sitting on his desk. 

\- In case some of you aren't informed yet, he eyed some students with an amused smile, let me tell you the rules again. You can paint in whatever way you wish, with any stool you like, but you need to use only one color per canvas. Of course, you can use different shades of the same color on one canvas. You will also have to use a human model in order to represent "What time changes", and i will need you to listen carefully now. 

Seungmin frowned, already pressed by the reminder of having to use a human model. 

\- You can not pick any student from this class, and i would prefer if you didn't pick any visual art student at all. I will not make any exception. 

The teacher's mischievous smile only grew wider as a wall of indignation raised in front of him. And at the bottom of this wall built by angry students loudly expressing their discontent, Seungmin sat there, slowly processing the fact that he had no escape. He tried to think positive ; maybe he would finally meet some new friends ? But how was he supposed to find a model among his school's students when he didn't even interacted with his classmates ? He couldn't just come up to someone and ask them to be his model. Tt would make no sense, and it would make him look like a total creep. 

\- I'm giving you until next monday to find a model, come to me as soon as you find one. If you already have one, come to my desk at the end of the hour. 

A week. It wasn't enough time for Seungmin to make friends and ask them to be his model. It wasn't even enough to remember someone's full name and birth date properly. But it was all he was given. A little week. 

The class went like it usually did, but messier. Since no one could focus on what was being said by their teacher because of the pressure of finding a model for their art project, the latter gave up and sat at his desk, amusingly watching his students freaking out. He noticed Seungmin deeply lost in thoughts and smiled to himself ; Seungmin's fine art teacher knew his potential and, tho he would never had admitted it, craved to see what kind of series would come out of his quietest student's mind. Over the last two years, Seungmin had never failed to impress and surprise his teachers and if you asked each one of them, you would only get eyes widening at the sound of the name and hours of praises about the young boy.  
  
But if you asked Seungmin about his own talent, you would only get empty yet shining brown eyes staring at you, waiting for an answer that would magically come by itself. Because as much as he liked painting, Seungmin wasn't sure he really deserved to be called an artist. He liked to consider the expression of his subjectivity as an another materialized form of his life – other than his living body and beating heart –, but he never knew if anyone actually enjoyed seeing small glimpses of his story being spread on the white sheets. 

But, as unusual as it was, Seungmin was wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm SO sorry for being so late i literally have no excuses i'll try to do better next time.  
> enjoy!

Just as he had thought, finding a model wasn't such an easy task. Three days had already passed since the deadline had been announced, and Seungmin still didn't find anyone that first, didn't look too bad, and second, matched the energy of the project he had in mind. 

As for the good-looking part, sure, he could always do some arrangements on his canvas to make the flaws disappear and create a new source of beauty from an unattractive soul. It was his job after all ; to turn basic and vapid things into pretty and eye-catching artworks. 

But as for the energy he was looking for, no brush or technic he would have used could have ever filled the lack of aura he desperately needed to properly put out his ideas on the familiar white cloth. Seungmin needed a very specific vibe to emanate from the partner he would choose, and he couldn't just neglect his most important criteria. 

So he had to seek intensely for three more days into his school and surroundings if he didn't want to lose precious points on the final mark. And he really did not want to lose them. 

Because making close friends in such a short amount of time was like climbing a soapy stiff wall to him, Seungmin started to panic on friday, two hours before his fine art class - the last class of the week. Though he kept wandering and scanning the school's corridors on his free time, no one suited perfectly what he was looking for.

People just seemed boring, falsely flawless or superficial ; in other words, disgustingly not to his taste, and certainly not adapted to his art style. 

Seungmin wasn't looking for external beauty, nor for internal beauty either. He wasn't looking for extreme good looks or radiating-happiness faces. He wasn't looking for sad smiles that hid big hearts and sad back stories or for tragic childhood trauma that made people radiate powerful auras either.

If he was totally honest, and if he wasn't so scared of being judged, Seungmin would have chosen himself for his own project. He found in himself everything he had searched for in the big buildings of his college for the past week. No particular problem, no outstanding personality, no specific features, nothing eye-catching that attracted every gaze on him.

Just a pure soul which basics specificities made it worthier than any jewellery could have. 

He hated himself for being so demanding, but he couldn't just risk to fail his last year.

As his mind kept going on and on, he bumped into someone's shoulder. He mumbled something that vaguely approached a "sorry" without even looking at them and kept walking towards his next class. 

\- You could at least try to look sincere, he heard behind him. 

He turned around to meet two dark eyes starring at him, a weird expression floating inside the black pupils. 

\- I'm sorry, Seungmin purposely insisted on his words but without even trying to look more sincere than he did a few seconds before. 

He stared at him for a split second as the other student started walking again and he turned back to leave as well, until he realized. 

_His subject._

\- Wait ! he called as he went back on his steps, catching up with the tall silhouette that was surprisingly already far away in the corridor.

The other stopped and looked at him, raising his eyebrows. 

\- Do you, by any chance, pose ? 

\- Uh yeah, that's what being a model consists in, actually, the student answered with a small laugh.

\- Didn't know you were a model, my bad, Seungmin shrugged. But since you are, would you mind posing for me ? I mean for my year project, he stuttered as he looked down at his shoes but quickly looked back into the other's eyes. 

The latter's eyebrows raised even more after hearing Seungmin's offer. Who would ask a complete stranger to pose for them ? Well, stranger wasn't quite the right word, but still, it seemed weird. 

\- Me ? I mean i wouldn't mind but, is it okay for you to have someone like me as a model ? The boy scratched his neck, glancing around them. 

\- Someone like you ? What are you a rebel or something ? Seungmin laughed but insisted. Listen i've been looking for a model the whole week and my dead line is on monday, you're kinda my only option right now. Does that work for you ?

\- Y-yeah why n-

\- Awesome ! Seungmin almost shouted out of relief, reaching for something in his shoulder bag and handed the student a small card. Here's my number, call me whenever you're free next week. I'm Kim Seungmin by the way, he slightly bowed and took a step back to indicate he had to leave. 

\- Hwang Hyunjin, the other answered looking at the blue piece of paper in his hand. But wait-

Seungmin had already left. The boy furrowed his eyebrows as he looked closer to the card. 

_Kim Seungmin  
3rd year art student  
xxx-xxx-xxxx  
(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)_

He let out a small chuckle before walking to his next class, securing Seungmin's card in his wallet. 

What a weird encounter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy im so sorry T____T  
> i kinda had a lack of inspiration and motivation these past months but!! i think i might start to write again (since i don't have anything else to do yk)
> 
> i hope you'll enjoy this one!<3

On the next monday, Seungmin started his second week with a pleasing feeling in his chest. Something that mixed lightness, relief and excitement all together. Something that made him feel like he could achieve anything. 

Since he had finally found his model, he couldn't wait to begin his project. It was all he had thought about all weekend ; how he would organize his semester, what color he would chose, what music he would play while painting, how he would make his model pose. He had spent his whole sunday buying new tools and tubes, comparing prices and qualities and renewing his entire set to make sure he would work in the best conditions. 

When he thought about that Hwang-something guy (he couldn't remember exactly his name), ideas kept overflowing in his head. He had great visuals, great vibes emanating from his dark eyes, something both soft and mysterious in his look. It made Seungmin wonder what kind of power it would give to his artworks. 

Sure, he was excited about starting his project, but he was also curious about what kind of relationship he would have with the boy. Would they only meet out of school for Seungmin's assignment ? Would they become friends and hang out after school ? Would the other student completely ignore him in the hallways ? Would they still keep in touch even after they both graduate ? He had no idea what turn all of this would take.

The whole day he wondered when the Hwang-boy would call him. He was already so bored of his classes, he couldn't wait to start painting again and express his imagination all over his workshop. 

Three days passed before he finally got a call. From monday to wednesday, Seungmin had often crossed ways with the boy in the school's corridors but the latter never seemed to notice him, too busy laughing with his friends or chatting with teachers. 

He also observed everyone seemed to know the black haired kid, and it seemed like he knew everyone too. Weirdly, he knew so little about him (close to nothing besides his last name) that he couldn't even remember his name.  
The boy seemed to be that TV show everyone would watch and talk about, and Seungmin would have no clue about what it was about. 

On thursday, when he received a call from an unknown number, Seungmin first thought about ignoring his ringing phone. He never received calls from anyone besides advertisers, which he always declined after hearing their mere sales pitch for two seconds. Plus, the cafeteria was crowded and noisy. So why would he answer ?

But before the last tone rang, he remembered he was actually waiting for a call. The model's one. His model. 

So he quickly grabbed his phone, almost dropping it on the floor in his haste. He breathed deeply before answering the call, clearing his throat so he wouldn't sound weird.

\- Hello ? he answered, not so sure if it was the person he had been waiting for.  
\- Is this Kim Seungmin ? the voice on the other side asked in a way more confident tone than him.  
\- Yeah- yes, it's me.  
\- It's Hwang Hyunjin. 

Hyunjin, that was the name. 

\- Oh yeah, hey, how are you ? Seungmin asked. He didn't really know how people usually talked over the phone.  
\- I'm ok thanks, I was wondering when you wanted to meet up ? For your art project ?  
\- Well I'm free everyday after three so it's up to you, when do you have time ? It's okay if you have a busy schedule, I can settle for half an hour if it's the most you can do. 

Although it was Hyunjin who had made the call, you could practically hear in his voice that Seungmin felt like he was disturbing him in the middle of something. 

\- No I'm actually free too this week, Hyunjin answered with his nonchalant tone. We can meet up this afternoon if you're ok with it ?  
\- Sure, it's awesome- I mean, that's cool. I'll text you the address of my workshop.  
\- 'Kay then, see you ! Hyunjin's voice suddenly sounded a bit excited, but the boy hung up before Seungmin could actually realize it.

As weird as it sounded, it was Seungmin's first phone call with someone else than his parents since he had started college. When he looked at the unregistered number on the screen, he smiled to himself. He wasn't sure if he was happy or just excited, maybe he was even both. But it just felt new to have plans and a new contact to add in his phone. 

With his calendar app and his contact list freshly updated, Seungmin got up and went to his locker to pack his things up before running - literally - to his workshop. There, he organized everything – although everything was already neatly arranged. He made sure every tubes were at their own place, every brush perfectly clean, his canvas meticulously placed on the easel, the currents pulled but not too much so the light would still fill the room.  
He scanned the place a hundred times, analyzing every single details that could ruin the cottage-like ambiance he took so much time to create. 

And when he was absolutely sure he met his goal, he took his phone from his desk, quickly texting Hyunjin the hour and address before preparing his color palette and playlist. 

_“Here's the address. You can come at 4.”  
Kim S. _


End file.
